How often to express?

[NanooCov]

My baby was born on 27/12. Unfortunately he's currently in SCBU after a not ideal entry to the world. He's taking very little milk by feeding tube as his tummy is poorly and needs to recover (3ml every 2 hrs) and is on a drip. Originally it was donor milk but I'm now successfully expressing - I'm just not sure how often I should be doing it? It's taking a while to empty each breast even using the hospital grade Medela but I don't want to cut each session short and risk affecting supply of getting blocked ducts. But at the same time I'm missing out on cuddle time with my boy - I do express beside him while his dad is holding him but don't like to do it while he's in my arms as I'm worried the smell of milk will distress him. Despite being poorly he gets cranky when hungry. How often and for how long do you reckon I should be expressing for?

Take a look at kellymom website loads of information for exclusively expressing. Good luck x

Congratulations on the birth of your ds & sorry to hear he is poorly.

When my dd was in scbu I was advised to express 8-10 times in 24hrs in order to build up my supply, so every 2.5-3hrs, and one of those must be between 2-4am. This seemed to be what most mums in there were doing although my dd was in for jaundice treatment & weighed 5lb 6 so a lot bigger than some of the really tiny or poorly babies in there. Whether the expressing regime was different for those mums I'm not sure. Are you using the medela symphony pump? The one I used had a newborn setting which ran for 15mins so you dont feel like you are expressing endlessly.

I found the staff in our scbu to be excellent & really really helpful with all feeding matters - perhaps your best bet will be to discuss it with them.

Hope all works out ok.